3 IPL franchises that could make David Warner their skipper

Australian southpaw David Warner is arguably one of the greatest cricketers in the history of the IPL. Warner has scored 5449 runs in 150 games at a mind-boggling average of 41.60 and an incredible strike rate of 139.97. He has represented two teams in the IPL - Delhi Capitals (then Daredevils) and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Warner, apart from being one of the greatest T20 batsmen of all time, was a successful captain for the Sunrisers Hyderabad as well. He led them to their only title in 2016 and took them to the playoffs consistently for the next three seasons.

Warner was unceremoniously sacked by SRH as captain midway through the previous IPL season. He was eventually dropped from the XI as well in the UAE leg of the tournament. Warner then redeemed himself in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, where he was Player of the Tournament as Australia won their first T20 WC.

On that note, let's have a look at the three franchises that will be eyeing him as a potential candidate for the captaincy.

#3 Punjab Kings

KL Rahul was captain of the Punjab Kings in the IPL in 2020 and 2021 and PBKS failed to make it to the playoffs in both. The side retained Mayank Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh before the mega-auction next month.

PBKS has the highest purse going into mega auctions (72 crores). Since PBKS has only retained two players, they could look to build their core with David Warner as captain now that Rahul is no longer a part of the side.

Warner could be an ideal partner to Agarwal at the top of the order as he's a left-hander. However, Punjab will have to ensure they do not end up overspending on Warner as this might affect their strategy for the rest of the auction.

#2 Royal Challengers Bangalore

Former Indian captain Virat Kohli has stepped down from the captaincy at RCB. However, he will still continue with the team as a player. Glenn Maxwell and Mohammed Siraj were the other two retentions RCB made going into the IPL 2022 mega-auction.

RCB have been famous for signing some of the biggest names in world cricket since the start of the IPL - AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc and Kevin Pietersen being the more prominent ones. They have 57 crores left in their purse for the mega-auction in February.

If RCB manages to buy Warner, they tick off two important boxes - an aggressive LHB opener who is equally good at anchoring when required, in addition to being a potential option for the captaincy. Bangalore will also be able to fill the void of AB de Villiers, who retired from all forms of cricket last year, to some extent.

The top order of Kohli, Warner, an Indian batsman, and Maxwell can work extremely well as all of these players can maximize their potential in those specific roles. Like PBKS, RCB also ought to make sure they are not overspending on Warner at the cost of team construction.

#3 Kolkata Knight Riders

England captain Eoin Morgan led KKR to the IPL finals in 2021. However, his performances at the tournament were quite mediocre. Morgan ended up scoring just 133 runs in 17 matches at a paltry average of 11 and a strike rate of 95. He was released by the KKR management after the season.

KKR has retained Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine and Venkatesh Iyer ahead of the IPL 2022 mega-auction. They have a purse of 48 crores before the same. If KKR manages to sign Warner, it will allow Venkatesh Iyer to play his natural attacking game as an opener alongside one of the greats of the format.

Since KKR does not have any captaincy options in their retention list, they will definitely be eyeing a player of Warner's quality. However, their challenge is that they have the lowest purse among the three teams which do not have a captain at the moment.